ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: Lack of internal checks in Senate secretariat as required by the government financial regulations para 13 have led to financial irregularities worth Rs54 million in the Inter-Parliamentary Relations (IPR) branch of the upper house, an official probe has revealed.

An internal inquiry revealed the financial irregularities, termed as “serious” by the officials, related to foreign visits of various Senate delegations from March 2003 till January this year.

According to a copy of the inquiry report obtained by Dawn, “it was the responsibility of the deputy secretary, that of the section officer, superintendent and the dealing assistant of IPR Branch who received the advance from (the) cashier to render the account just after the completion of the tours and to deposit the outstanding balance immediately in the State Bank of Pakistan, but it has been observed that the officers/officials receiving the money kept the advance unauthorized with them.”

The inquiry report observed that the cashier neither recorded the entry of the amount disbursed in the cash book against the amount drawn as advance nor demanded the account of the payment made as advance to the IPR, and the amount had been appearing in record books as unspent balance.

The inquiry found that even the audit officer did not point out the “serious lapses” during audit.

According to details, an amount of Rs57.9 million was issued to the officials for visits of delegations to Sri Lanka, New York, Korea, Manila, Havana, Mexico, Mongolia, Switzerland, Paris, Bosnia, Geneva, Egypt, Washington, China, Fiji, Toronto, Rome, Singapore, Belgium, India and the Hague.

According to the government’s financial rules, “at the end of each month, the head of office should verify the cash balance in the cash book and record a signed and dated certificate to that effect.”

The financial irregularity, termed as “serious”, pertained to 22 sanctions of Rs54 million by the IPR Branch without signatures of any officer appearing in the record books and Rs39.5 million cash given to officials of the IPR branch for foreign visits.

The record as made available to the inquiry committee showed that name of the signatory officer who drew the amounts was not provided against amounts drawn for visits to Sri Lanka (Rs310,200); New York (Rs16,53,820); Korea (Rs751,260); Manila (Rs972,400); Manila (Rs85,320); Havana (Rs4,288,360); Mexico (Rs2,106,860); Mongolia (Rs241,260); Switzerland (Rs2,383,500); Paris (Rs256,320); Switzerland (Rs248,560); Switzerland (Rs156,900); Mexico (Rs3,731,040); Bosnia (Rs347,170); Geneva (Rs2,113,100); Mexico (Rs1,843,740); Egypt (Rs2,926,940); Bosnia (Rs347,170); Geneva (Rs2,113,100); Mexico (Rs1,843,740); Manila (Rs159,580); Washington (Rs230,170); China (Rs3,223,700); Fiji (Rs4,722,904); Canada (Rs4,171,380); Geneva (Rs1,288,540); Italy (Rs701,013); New York (Rs9.6 million); Singapore (Rs531,404); Belgium (Rs1,196,902); India (Rs275,834); Hague (Rs9,710); payment to Senator Prof Khursheed Barucha (Rs7,520); India (Rs85,718).

The official probe into financial irregularities revealed “that the cash exceeding the imprest money was retained unauthorized in the currency chest of the Senate of Pakistan for years even after the close of the financial year 2003-04 and 2004-05 despite the fact that the authorized permanent advances sanctioned as imprest money is a small amount of Rs280,000.”

The inquiry found that Rs39.5 million was given as cash to M/S Syed Waqar Yousaf, Mohammad Hassan and Ghulam Murtaza, the then section officer of the IPR Branch, and to Mohammad Younas for purchasing foreign exchange and air tickets for the members of the delegations. Only “unofficial” receipts of handing over cash to the officials were made available to the inquiry team, documents revealed.

The inquiry held the deputy secretary, section officer, superintendent, dealing assistant, SO Cash and the cashier who remained posted in the IPR Branch responsible for the financial irregularities.